PROLOGUE


    Atop a dark, windowless spire nestled in the void of an immortal star, far away from anything else that space around it looked empty and quiet, sat a man with cracked skin that emitted light brighter than the surrounding celestial object.


    For countless years, sleep was all he knew. Healing one''s body from being continuously vaporized took a lot of time. The resources required would cause any society in the higher worlds to buckle. The rise to power was one of hardship and loneliness and no expense was spared.


    On a day like any other, filled with searching through an empty Domain, one of the strings of consciousness he had sent throughout the cosmos shuddered. The eons of stillness magnified the brief vibration and all of his attention spent searching for something in his desolate inner world was completely shifted to this new sensation.


    Throughout his time harvesting the star and reforging himself with its latent energy, there were many instances where his strings were shaken. All were nothing of concern, just echoes of people who vaguely aligned with his path. Although the connection only remained active for one to three hundred years or so years each time, it brought him out of monotony. To show his gratitude, he would give a whisper of his power to each of the beings that gained his attention, because he knew that death was not the end of everyone''s journey, and every advantage was needed when traversing the veil.


    The tendril''s waving quickly grew in intensity. With a sigh, the man focused fully on the vibrating string. Finding nothing of concern, he began the ritual of diluting a grain of his power to gift to the person who garnered his attention.


    The process was slow, and he thought he had plenty of time to observe the person. However, unlike every other time someone caught his eye, his tendril continued to shake and did not look like it’d stop anytime soon.


    —


    Years passed in relative comfort. The being that had connected to his tendril lived a normal, almost carefree life on a planet that was just out of its infancy. The feelings he was siphoning through the connection gave him years of solace, but he felt the being growing older. The sensations and experiences became watered-down versions of what they were prior, only giving faint glimpses of life on the planet called Diat.


    Sadness overcame him as he felt the vibrations in the connection start to fade. He knew this event was inevitable, one that would drop him back into his cycle of absorbing the star that surrounded him.


    Without warning, visuals from the being called Rend assaulted his mind. It was as if he was looking through their eyes. A beautiful landscape tarnished by bodies scattered throughout the view. An acrid smell was the next thing he noticed. He couldn’t remember the last time he had detected the scent of anything, but this was too much for him.


    Thoughts of the past years flashed through his head. Rend was a good man. A man that he wished he could have been during his first years of life. Instead of pulling away from what he was seeing, he embraced it and decided to feel everything as it happened.


    Broken. The being was broken. Empty of any will to continue. He kneeled in front of a woman who was strewn on the ground in four pieces, in a protective position above a pile of children.


    This being’s wife and children were the core of his existence. Everything he had done was for the betterment of them, and here they lay, butchered by an invader. The deep sense of loss was quickly replaced with anger. Both him and Rend had never experienced the emotion with such ferocity. Nothing would stand in the Rend''s way of delivering the invader’s just deserts and the man watching on was ever willing to help.


    Rend looked out blankly over the scarlet-stained street and replied to a question only he could hear. “I, Rend Vorce, accept your assistance graciously.” Rend said as a white light descended on him.


    “Thank you.” Rend expressed as his eyes glazed over with a white sheen.


    He became pure power. Buildings broke apart around him, mixing with the gore that had surrounded him. His perception increased manifold, and only the will to know where his attackers were was enough to blanket the world with his presence and pinpoint his target.


    With speed never seen on Diat, he arrived at his intended destination faster than a blink of an eye. Looking at the grim smile that adorned the invader’s face, Rend’s mind disconnected and he let his instincts take charge.


    He didn’t know how much time had passed. It felt like only a single unit had gone by, but the decimated army of invaders around him said otherwise. He couldn’t feel one of his arms and his soul felt like a pale shadow of what it used to be.


    Rend looked up into the blue sky as tears began to roll down his cheek. He knew that his time was up, and the borrowed power he wielded that helped him achieve his last request had faded. With a heavy heart, he mouthed the words that would be his last as his soul peeled away from his body.


    “Thank you, Mr. Kine.”


    —


    As the perspective of the Diatian man abruptly ended, it left the celestial being alone with the aftermath of his entanglement. Tears lasting for only a moment fell from his eyes as the final images streamed through his mind.


    “How?” Mr. Kine said as he disconnected from the star. “The connection was the strongest of any baseborn thus far. He was meant for greatness. If I had started with everything he had, I wouldn’t be stuck in this DAMN STAR!”Stolen novel; please report.


    With his outburst, the star around him broke down and dissolved, instantly taken up by his presence. He knew the quick absorption was harmful, but in that moment, thoughts of damaging his advancement were distant.


    He exploded with light and began moving out of the barren space he had created. “No. The fault was mine, If I had pushed him, even the smallest amount, he would have been strong enough to protect what he held dear. Instead, I stood idle — enjoying all his experiences had to give. I’m sorry Rend.”


    Seeing a new star on the outskirts of his enhanced vision, he stopped, unable to keep his emotions in check. The light calmed and condensed on the cracks on his skin. “It may not be the life you wished, but this is the only apology I can give. Your time is not through.”


    Completely exhausting the energy reserves he had absorbed from the star he had just harvested, he haphazardly refined it and sent it through the weak connection to Rend’s soul. Although the chances of all of the energy getting to Rend were minimal, he tried anyway, knowing that even a small amount would be enough to help the poor soul.


    With his chest heaving, he added his absurd amount of willpower to his wish.


    “LIVE!”


    With his gift of power sent out, Mr. Kine set out toward a new star in hopes of healing the physical damage he had done to himself and attempt to alleviate the mental pain of Rend’s end.


    If he only knew that Rend’s soul would be saved before his power was received, Mr. Kine would not have sent so much.


    —


    Years went by in the blink of an eye, with a mind full of the idea of advancement. Although he had only seen one being with the power to rival his, he trained for the sake of advancement. That, and it was fun to see the minor gods squirm when he flexed his willpower. A stray thought of them broke his focus.


    “What were they called again? Immortals? No that can’t be.” Mr. Kine said as he looked up through the star he was inhabiting. “They forego a mortal lifespan well before they reach their current level of power. Oh yes, I remember! Deathless! A ridiculous name, but after their physical transformation, I can see why they would land on that.”


    He closed his eyes, preparing himself to fall into the deep meditation that allowed him to remake his physical form continuously, but found it more difficult than usual. An itch in the back of his mind kept him from fully focusing on his goal.


    “Another one so soon?” Mr. Kine questioned as he focused on the disturbance. Like with Rend, one of his many tendrils of consciousness began to move. Like the waves of an ocean beckoning a storm, the shaking in the string grew. A mere few years passed until the feedback was something Mr. Kine couldn’t ignore.


    Firming his willpower, he looked through the connection. The strength that held his form wavered for a split second, causing him to stumble and cause part of the tower he had created within his star to crumble. Unbothered with his living arrangements, he looked further.


    “From the same planet no less.” Mr. Kine had a bird’s eye view of the person in question. “A bit on the small side for someone of his heritage, but undoubtedly skilled. He looks to have a much better foundation than Rend, but that’s probably from all of the royal instructors following him around.” Mr. Kine said to himself. There was nobody anywhere remotely near him who could hear his self-dialogue, so he continued to share his thoughts for the years leading up to this boy’s adulthood.


    “For reaching your goal of honing your presence better than anyone in the Empire, allow me to help you firm your gains.” Mr. Kine said, projecting his words as power through their connection. Not too much as to hurt the boy, but enough to solidify his achievements. He had done this multiple times throughout this boy’s life but moments after the latest infusion, something changed. A qualitative change.


    “This is what I had hoped for. Prepare to live as one of the strongest on your planet! An entire Empire will be under your care, and with this, you’ll be ready. Prepare yourself, little Kalex, for your connection to me, the Shattered Monarch, shall see your path through until the end!”


    As Mr. Kine felt a small amount of pride suffuse his mind at his speech that nobody heard, the worst had happened, and any feeling of joy faded as he watched on. Due to his personal power that was lightly uplifted by Mr. Kine, Kalex quickly became ostracized by his own people— by his own family.


    Feeling affronted, Mr. Kine made to send an influx of power to Kalex so he could prove that he was meant for the throne but held off at the last minute. A wiggle in a recent thread of his broke his anger. The faint connection with Rend moved abnormally. The waves didn’t move towards him but to the string connecting Mr. Kine to Kalex.


    He felt his non-existent heart skip a beat as the two connections merged into one, strengthing both. Images and memories flooded into him, showing what came of Rend after his death. He had been given knowledge and a form that looked more akin to mist than any being he had ever seen. He smiled and looked on.


    “Interesting.”


    Lost and confused, Kalex was brought to the planted leaders of his world and set to live his life in a way that did not fit his path. To make it worse, he was sent to take care of the most vile creatures he had ever seen. They were small six-legged animals with four sinister claws at the end of each leg. Teeth with the ability to easily rip through flesh and thick corded muscles lining every part of its skeletal structure, hidden behind cloud-like fur. With a long tail meant for balance and an uncanny intelligence behind each large eye, Mr. Kine was surprised that these beasts were protected and not outright exterminated.


    With a small push in the right direction, he got Kalex out of that nightmarish situation and let him follow his path the best he could. Kalex had aspirations of becoming an artificer and settling down to a relaxed life, and a few years later, he achieved just that.


    Going through life as an outlaw seemed inconvenient, but Mr. Kine had been in trouble before and knew that Kalex would be able to handle the occasional annoyance.


    Years passed in this manner. At first, Mr. Kine felt nothing but joy from his connection to Kalex, but after living the life he thought he wanted, Kalex became listless and yearned for more. With the memory of Rend still fresh in his mind and their connection partially restored, Mr. Kine didn’t push Kalex or imbue any more power into him. He wanted to see what would happen.


    A year later, a surprise for both Kalex and Mr. Kine. One of the instructors who helped Kalex even after his disinheritance ended Kalex’s life under the guise of the most awful creature. Mr. Kine prepared himself for the inevitable sadness that was to come, but instead of seeing the connection wither, it grew brighter and vibrated at a speed that not even a Deathless would be able to see clearly.


    He had done the impossible as a baseborn. Creating an avatar using one’s own creation was something most would never be able to do. What was more intriguing, the avatar was a physical object and not an energy projection. Curious and worried. Mr. Kine flexed his power and wrapped the little box as it entered the abyss. The soul could survive, but the small cube wouldn’t. Entering the abyss as a baseborn soul was a cleansing, with only a wisp of the previous person’s power hanging on to be recycled.


    Deciding that Kalex’s path was not over, Mr. Kine burned the star around him to power the barrier holding Kalex’s cube together, taking great care to keep it undamaged. At times, he needed to add power to the cube due to the intense energies of the abyss nicking the corners off every year or two.


    Sweat beaded on his brow as holding the cube together took its toll. He could only wait until the soul decided it was time to join the living.


    Those were the longest one hundred years of his life. His barriers started breaking apart quicker than he could repair them and worry grasped every waking moment. He realized that he was going to have to forcefully bring Kalex back to the mortal plane and had to start with Kalex’s home world.


    Diat was blocked off. A contract locked the planet down and only souls deemed clean could get through. Panicking, Mr. Kine looked to the owner of the planet.


    With a small amount of his power as payment, the woman named Wren vowed to have one of her ascended assist. Due to the contract on his domain, souls were given free passage in and out. He wouldn’t know what was happening, but he opened his domain to all souls for a time. Enough time for Mr. Kine to place Kalex’s cube next to the nascent soul of a newborn. The other soul would soon be completely shadowed by Kalex’s, but it was the best he could do.


    Once Kalex’s soul was safe, Mr. Kine watched on with trepidation. He’d never heard of anything like this happening before. With equal parts worry and excitement, he watched on as Kalex was reborn.